


No Matter What the Future Brings

by debwalsh



Series: Meadowville Memories [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Dancing, Fandom Trumps Hate, M/M, Veterans Day, in memoriam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 04:29:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16611977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debwalsh/pseuds/debwalsh
Summary: Steve and Bucky take a moment during a Veterans Day dinner dance to remember an old friend.Inspired by art, courage, honor, and a man who created whole worlds for us to play in.





	No Matter What the Future Brings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DrowningByDegrees-Art (DrowningByDegrees)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrowningByDegrees/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Steve and Bucky Dancing for FTH2018](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/432395) by DrowningByDegrees-Art. 



> DrowningbyDegrees delivered the art I bid on in FTH2018 just in time for the world to face the loss of Stan Lee. This story just naturally grew out of that. So the art is for the Fandom Trumps Hate 2018, and this story is my gift back.
> 
> Our FTH2018 charity was Flippable (http://flippable.org), a grass-roots driven organization dedicated to preserve our freedoms through election of progressive candidates.

****There were lots of things in the future that surprised Steve and Bucky. The list was long and often comical, laced with wonder and sometimes outrage.

One of the things they both had a very complicated relationship with was how their country treated veterans. In some ways, they approved, but in many others, they felt their country fell far short of its obligations and responsibilities toward the men and women who risked their lives to protect their democracy, and the freedoms of people around the world.

A pleasant discovery was VFW posts. The organization Veterans of Foreign Wars, or VFW, was something they knew from before the ice. They knew the organization worked tirelessly for veteran rights and recognition, and Steve had done some work with them in Washington before he and Bucky were reunited. But he didn’t know about the VFW posts until they settled in Meadowville, and he and Bucky found themselves encouraged to not only become members, but join in the robust community that was served by the local post.

They were the oldest members of the Armed Forces in the Meadowville post, but there were a few other fellas who’d served in the same war that’d taken them both from Brooklyn and dragged them through time. There were veterans from far too many wars fought in the meantime, too - Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East again and again and again.

When they went to the post, they weren’t Captain America and the Winter Soldier. They were Cap and Sarge, Steve and Bucky. Strategist and sniper. Veterans of the European theatre of war in World War II. Never erstwhile superheroes. Certainly not celebrities. Brothers in arms, members of the elite group of people who’d served and lived to tell the tale.

The post organized a number of activities leading up to Veterans Day, and the boys were happy to roll up their sleeves and pitch in. Bucky had been particularly excited to try his hand at growing poppies to be sold to raise money for the post’s disability services. The poppy had been a symbol of fallen warriors when they were kids, proudly worn in the buttonholes of men who’d survived the blood soaked fields of Europe to mark the end of the war - Armistice Day. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month ...

There were still those who carried arms in defense of the nation, still those who stood between the sanctity of their democracy and those who would tear it down. A cynical part of Steve believed there would always be wars, always be aggressors. But he knew, in his heart of hearts, that if that were the case, there would always be men and women willing to stand up, be counted, and lay down everything they had to keep this nation free. He knew this because even though he and Bucky were officially retired, if it were necessary for him to take up arms again, he would. They both would.

So he was grateful there were people willing to carry on the fight. And he was grateful that, for now at least, he didn’t have to. That Bucky didn’t have to.

So they raised poppies to contribute to the cause on Veterans Day, and they manned booths at the farmers’ market and county fairs. They put up decorations, and they posed for photos at the fundraisers. They helped with repairs and improvements to the homes of fellow veterans. Occasionally, Steve would flex his Captain America muscles and put his voice behind an important initiative to benefit veterans. They did what they could, contributed where they could, and enjoyed the fruits of their labors - a community of fellow veterans and their families, a place they were always welcome, the odd checkers game with a fella who remembered the world they came from, a drink raised in memoriam for those who’d fallen before them, and the echo of an old song sung with a group of guys like no other.

It was oddly comforting, like a bridge from 1945 to the present day.

“You’re thinkin’ too hard,” Bucky said then, taking Steve’s hand in his and giving it a squeeze.  

“Ah, just thinkin’ how lucky I am.”

“Yeah? Any specific reason?”

“Got a hot date with the best looking fella in town. Plus, Stan owes me a rematch at checkers.”

“Only because you’re an old softie and you let him win last time.”

“Made his day, didn’t it? That’s worth something.”

“Yeah, if you’re a sap.”

“Your sap.”

“Yeah, you are.”

They’d parked their car at the municipal lot, walked through the town center, and arrived at the post just in time for doors to open for dinner and dancing on Veterans Day. Instead of a warm smile and a twinkle in her eye, Elsie Danvers met them at the door with a drawn expression and eyes shiny and rimmed with red.

“Elsie, what’s wrong, hon?” Bucky asked immediately, tucking her under his arm and giving her a gentle squeeze.

“Sorry, boys. Had some bad news today. Your checkers buddy, Steve. Stan.”

“What happened? Is he all right -“

Elsie shook her head, grimacing uncomfortably. “He passed this afternoon. He hadn’t been feeling well. Heck, he’s never been quite the same since Joan passed. But he loved his checker matches with you, Steve. He loved that you thought you needed to throw the game to make him happy,” she added with a smile and a sniff.

“How, when - who -?”

“Pneumonia. Well, his daughter was there. His younger brother, too. He wasn’t alone, poor soul. Surrounded by family. There are worse ways to go, I suppose. But listen to me, maundering on. You boys are here fo a nice evening, good food, good music. Band is on at 9, but the buffet’s set up so you can just go help yourselves,” she told them, waving toward the spread in the big hall.

“You know we’re paying for two for each of us, right, Else? And Stevie here’s gonna spring for everybody tonight.”

“I am, huh?”

“Yeah. You’re good for it, sweetcheeks. In Stan’s name, huh?”

“Yeah, in Stan’s name,” Steve agreed with a sad smile. From his wallet, he drew out a black card and handed it to her. “Run a tab. I’m paying for everybody, like Buck said.”

“Steve, that’s not necessary - you’ve done so much -“

“Wars aren’t won by a single person, Elsie. And freedom’s not secured by one guy with a frisbee. I owe everyone here just as much if not more than anyone could think of owing me. Humor me. And let us know when the arrangements are made, huh? We definitely wanna be there for Stan.”

&&&

They enjoyed their food, and no one blinked an eye at the number of times they took a turn around the buffet. Elsie let people know that the Rogers-Barneses were covering everyone’s meals at the post that night, and there’d been a constant carousel of well wishers and thank yous. Finally that had died down, and the band began to play. In honor of Stan’s passing the band stuck with standards from their own era. Miller, Dorsey, Goodman, Keyser, and more.

Bucky was only too happy to take his fella for a spin around the dance floor. Steve was happy to oblige. He’d finally gotten to be a decent dancer, which meant he didn’t have to watch his husband cut a rug with a string of dames. He could hold him in his arms, rip through a Lindy or hop to a Jitterbug. Or like now, breathe him in deep and sway.

“Thought he was gonna live forever, y’know?” Bucky said softly, holding Steve’s hand against his heart, his other hand resting gently on Steve’s waist.

“So much personality,” Steve agreed. “He filled the room with it. Hell, the whole building. The town, even. I’m gonna miss him.”

Bucky leaned in and brushed his lips against Steve’s. “He was one of the good ones. Never did find out how a guy from the Bronx ends up in Meadowville.”

“Joan. She was born here. Stan said when her folks got old, they agreed to move here and take care of them. It stuck,” he added with a shrug.

“It’s a good place to grow old together. They had a good run.”

“Yeah. More‘n most.”

“I know we’re technically older,” Bucky started to say, tugging Steve closer so he could whisper in his ear. “But I want that. All those years together. I want another century with you. Maybe more.”

Steve turned, letting his lips brush against Bucky’s cheek as he shifted in his arms to look in his eyes. “I want that, too. We’ll have that, Buck. ‘Cos like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”

“Good. ‘Cos baby - we’ve only just begun,” Bucky told Steve with a smile, and then proceeded to dip him, to the sound of laughter and applause.

Stan would’ve been proud.

END

**Author's Note:**

> My Dad was a WWII veteran, but because of an injury he got as a child, he was deemed 4F. He still served honorably in the motor pool in Mississippi (we’re from Pennsylvania, a long way away), and he was a certified marksman, like Bucky. But he didn’t serve on foreign soil. It was one of the proudest moments of his life when he was permitted to join a local VFW post.
> 
> Respect and honor to all who served, and who serve now. Freedom and democracy are worth fighting for.


End file.
